#ddlc poems

[cherry-sandwich]

i genuinely love Eagles Can Fly so much. like it's such a simple concept but it's done so well i just. asdjhsfkjsd. slightly incomprehensible yapping ahead

as Natsuki says in-game, the poem is about giving up. pretty straightforward. i think there's also something to say about giving up and failing while other people (animals) around you are being successful and overall feeling inferior to others, which kind of plays into her continuously having to justify her interests and writing style in order to be taken seriously.

with that in mind, we take a look at the rhythmic structure of the poem (rhythmic structure may or may not be an actual term, but it sounds right). Natsuki specifically highlights the rhyme scheme of this poem and her choice to break the rhyme in the last line of the poem. the first four lines of the poem follow an ABCB rhyme scheme, so you'd expect the next four to follow this as well - but nope, it's ABBC. as Natsuki says, this subverts the reader's expectations and make the last line hit harder. the last line is also an outlier as the only line with 5 syllables and not following the preestablished format of [animal] can [verb], futher reinforcing its role in breaking the flow of the poem. on a more meta level, breaking a rhyme is also an action of giving up (on the structure of the poem).

it's also worth noting the rhyme in "fly" and "try", which already breaks the rhyme scheme without even considering the last line. when reading the poem, this results in the line feeling slightly out of place - like you skipped a line or something. this lends itself to the idea that even when people are doing the thing they do best - trying - they still can't do it in a way that feels natural. "trying" as an action also feels like less of an accomplishment compared to the other actions, further playing into the idea of inferiority.

in terms of literary devices, there's not much else to say about the poem which i think is the best thing about it. its sole purpose is to play with the rhyming and word use and then throw it back in your face but it's used so well that you really don't need anything else.

[doki-doki-lesbians-club]

as someone who’s entire poetry style is based on a mix of natsuki and yuri’s, PLEASE ANALYZE THE POEMS TOO! ANALYZE THE HELL OUT OF EVERYTHING!!

You had me at “poetry” 😊

Okay, everyone! In this post, we’ll be analyzing Natsuki’s poetry in Doki Doki Literature Club! because she’s gay and i can prove it dammit

Well only be going over the poems that have a profound affect on reading her character, namely “Amy Likes Spiders” and “I’ll Be Your Beach”, and maybe touching on “The Best Place in the World” if I feel like it by the end of the post.

(Links to read the poems for yourself!)

｢Amy Likes Spiders｣

Let’s talk spiders… er, poetry! So to summarize, we are introduced to a hypothetical character named Amy, who likes spiders. We are shown that she is a normal person with a normal life, except the narrator of the poem refuses to be friends with her because she likes spiders. Simple, right? Spiders are gross!

Well, not that simple. The climax of the piece is a stanza towards the end that reads: “It doesn’t matter if she has other hobbies. It doesn’t matter if she keeps it private. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t hurt anyone.”

Oof, yikes, kinda harsh, don’t you think? It keeps going.

“It’s gross. She’s gross. The world is better off without spider lovers.

And I’m gonna tell everyone.”

Woahhh okay, took a bit of an intense turn from enjoying arachnids, huh?

This should be the first clue that the true meaning of the poem isn’t surface-level. Lines that seem intensely out of place or out of character are most likely intended to point you to a deeper content, such as I believe is happening here.

The entire poem, Natsuki has shown us in detail Amy, her life, and how this narrator treats her in response to her “liking spiders”. The narrator refuses to enjoy Amy’s singing, won’t let Amy touch her to help her when she’s hurt, and even fears that Amy might cause her friends to start liking spiders too.

So, what’s going on here? Why such a strong reaction to Amy’s interests? Well, this becomes more clear when reading with a queer lens.

Go through the entire poem (or at least the key parts) and replace “spiders” with “girls”. You get such lines as: “I tried not to let her touch me. She likes girls, so her hands are probably gross.”

“I always see her talking to people. She probably talks about girls. What if her friends start to like girls too?”

“It’s gross. She’s gross. The world is better off without girl lovers.”

Reads totally different, right? But it also makes a little more sense, doesn’t it?

In this context, Amy is a lesbian. Someone (the narrator) found out, and is being entirely homophobic about it, even if it doesn’t affect them at all. This makes the end of the poem more ominous and borderline horrifying.

“The world is better off without spider lovers.

And I’m gonna tell everyone.”

This can also be used to support a trans reading of Natsuki, as all of these same things can be applied to being transgender (though maybe in a more distantly metaphorical way than the easy spiders/girls swap).

Stylistically, it’s a very simple rhythm, no rhyme, with the repeating line “That’s why I’m not friends with her.” This simple repetition of pattern and phrase makes the changeup with “It doesn’t matter if…” all the more prominent, because it breaks that pattern.

｢I’ll Be Your Beach｣

Ahh the beach. Not my vacation of choice, but many find it refreshing, rejuvenating, and relaxing. That’s certainly what Natsuki seemed to have in mind for her poem she wrote from the one word prompt “beach”.

This piece is longer, though still keeps Natsuki’s tried-and-true simple format, four-line stanzas, and repetition not too dissimilar to common music patterns. The scene is of two people walking along a beach, basking in the warm sunlight, and letting the seawater wash their worries away. Natsuki can even be seen fantasizing about a kiss between these two~!

Though I don’t believe Natsuki to be the first person narrator of “Amy Likes Spiders”, I do think she is the narrator of this poem, as she then assumes the role of one of the two on the beach. Which means Natsuki is actually writing about her kissing this person! How intriguing~

Now, we are lead to believe in DDLC that the romantic poems written by Yuri and Natsuki are directed at the MC. However, that would be an odd assumption for this poem, given some of the things Natsuki mentions…

“Your mind is so full of troubles and fears” “The walls in your mind will melt away” “Let’s bury your heavy thoughts in the sand” “Wash your insecurities in the salty sea” “You’ll learn to love yourself again.”

By show of hands, how many of you lovely readers thought about MC when you read those lines? I hope none of you, because he doesn’t express these sentiments at all, let alone to Natsuki.

But how many of you maybe thought about Yuri? Or even Sayori? Ahh, a different story.

Natsuki is clearly imagining a time where she can comfort this person and remind them of “the reasons [they’re] wonderful” and even kiss them. This person clearly means a lot to Natsuki, and seeing them happier is obviously a goal. Now who does Natsuki say this is about explicitly…

Oh, of course, Yuri.

In Act 2, Natsuki gives MC a note that mentions she always wanted to be better friends with Yuri, and is concerned for her wellbeing (as we all were in Act 2). This seems to be a similar theme to the therapeutic scene in “I’ll Be Your Beach”, not to mention that the “beach” prompt was an assignment with Yuri! They were supposed to write from the same prompt, and Natsuki wrote this while Yuri wrote her poem, “Beach”. Wouldn’t it make sense that Natsuki might write some of these feelings she has for/about Yuri in a poem that was surely going to be read to her?

In conclusion, Natsuki’s simplistic style is excellent at throwing in emotional and/or sudden endings that really provoke thought about the poem itself, and its deeper meaning. This also allows for some thicker metaphors, since everything is encouraged to be taken at face value. I hope my breakdowns here have shown you just a little bit of a queer reading of Natsuki’s character through poetry! (Not to mention everything she does and says!)

I might add “The Best Place in the World” as a reblog later, Tumblr mobile is fucking with my formatting ahaha! Thanks for the ask~! I might do this for some of the other poems too if people are interested!

[just-qonika]

What’s your favorite poem in the game? All poems included in DDLC Plus, including the bonus ones about trains or something, are fair game.

HMMM i had to re read through the poems for a refresher BUT

i find "Control" by monika in ddlc plus (physical edition) to be my favourite :3 for a few different reasons, relatability as well as it jus being a nice read really

another one i did like tho ironically enough was "Natsukis Special Events Poem" from ddlc plus LMAOOO i found the ending bit where she said "The train has arrived, Expression Express, destination you" was kinda cute HEHEEHA

honorable mention to sayoris ddlc plus "Take My Hand" tho >>

[buttercatrho]

[Immortal's Chain]

Drew this as a break between animations

the sad scrunglo

[ddlcbrainrot]

gayass

[piercingsandfangs]

~~~ <3 ~~~

[rosemarysel]

🐮

[saccharyn]

“ if it wasn't for you, I could sleep forever .

but i'm not mad . ”

“ i want breakfast . ”

⌢ Saryn or Ryn ⊹ xe/she/doll ,,

new to tumblr , and editblr . . please feel free to letter me tips and some tricks to get to know tumblr a little more . . (⁠ ⁠◜⁠‿⁠◝⁠ ⁠)⁠♡

;; before you follow

— may reblog quite often, let me know if i reblog anything problematic or harmful . . i can be sensitive and insensitive sometimes, i hope this isn't a bother . .

;; interests

— doki doki literature club, phighting, deadplate, married in red, needy streamer overload, cookie run kingdom, wuthering waves, bungo stray dogs, and more !

“ requests ! ”

requests for graphics: – painted

asks and etc (through letter): – written poems

“ rules ? ”

no rules yet! just please be mindful that i am new to both editing and tumblr, so i simply ask for basic manner <3

“ that's all ~! ”

[iris-drawing-stuff]

Sometimes I just get the most nonsensical crossover ideas.

Doki Doki Literature Club! Milgram Edition

Does this make sense? No.

Was it fun to draw? Yes!

And that's what's important!

[denizenhardwick]

natsuki is gay and was forced by the game to fall in love with the protagonist, i'm literally so serious about this.

[verysleepyfrog]

Things I Like About Papa (Doki Doki Literature Club! special poem) // Gomenne Gomenne (Kikuo)

[dragonofdarkness666]

Riverside

When the river is rushing the water is full of life..

like the blood flowing under my skin as I press the knife.

As the seasons change, so does the flow of time.

The River dries leaving but remains..

Much as time on my soul in blood it drains.

-Yuri inspired poem

[reiningsoral]

me, showing my little sister how to play ddlc: ok so which one do you wanna romance?

her: monika

me: oh. um. you cant.

her:

[just-qonika]

i made the monika sanshee spin gif back when she came out,,

i think its only fair to let her friends join <3

[timefospookies]

<3

[charst4r]

Inspired by one of Natsuki's poems from DDLC

Your mind, full of intruding and racing thoughts. The sea, washing away your insecurities with its saltiness. The sand, burying each and every worry with every grain. The sky, overwhelming all those flaws with clouds. The stars, shining on all of your imperfections together. The moon, showing you the good that lies within you.

The mirror, reflecting everything back at you. The mirror, helping your thoughts seem right.